New ideas are needed to reinvigorate the debate around the future of Europe. As opposed to expending time and energy on the Brexit psychodrama or the Italian government’s battle with the European Commission over a few extra percentage points of deficit, the European political debate needs be refocused on the concept of democracy, the sense of community, and the effective response to a widespread lack of sense of purpose. This paper puts forwards ten such ideas within an open framework. It is not a recipe for change, but an attempt to feed a much-needed debate. The goal is to collect further ideas, to generate discussion among different stakeholders, and to encourage a problem-solving exercise so that a vision for a 21st Century Europe can become a common ground for anyone interested in moving toward a shared goal.

The Union performed the extraordinary task of transforming into a peaceful haven the continent that hosted the two bloodiest wars in the history of the world. But this past success is not enough to keep it alive today: it needs institutions that move at the same speed of the new, more subtle challenges of the 21st Century. Part of Vision's "Platform for a 21st Century Europe".

An introduction to the ten ideas that will kick-off a debate on the future results of democracy and Europe beyond the Union will be presented in London on April 1st, 2019. Here is the link to the event page.

The problem of Europe is that it is like those Catholic marriages with no divorce clause which had the tendency to become a cage of mutual hypocrisy – cheating, if not violent.Authors Francesco Grillo and Andrea Iannone